The cosmetic industry today, particularly in the United States, enjoys a sales volume which is exceeded by very few other industries. Among the numerous cosmetic products so sold, lipsticks account for a substantial share of today's cosmetic market.
Once a women has selected a particular brand and color of lipstick, she may generally repurchase that particular brand and color. However, women are often tempted to try other brands and colors in an effort either to change or improve their respective appearances. In addition, there are always young women, and sometimes even older women, who may be trying lipstick for the first time. Most of these purchasers of different brands and colors, and new purchasers desire to sample various brands and colors in which they may be interested before purchasing any full-size lipstick in that brand and color.
Heretofore, lipstick sampling has been carried out at the counter of a retail store by using a "tester". Such a "tester" has been an actual lipstick provided, usually by and at the expense of the manufacturer of lipsticks corresponding to that of the "tester", at the retail counter for use by all consumers. In the department stores, drug stores and other retail establishments selling cosmetics, each "tester" over a period of time could be handled by as many as hundreds of people, each of whom may have picked up the tester lipstick and applied it either to her hand or lips for color and texture evaluation. Obviously, the use of "testers" in this manner can present health hazards since a fluid on the lips of the testing party may be passed on to the surface of the lipstick "tester". With recent public concern over the spread of such diseases as AIDS and herpes, many potential purchasers have become reluctant to apply tester lipsticks to their own lips, or even to the skin of their hands, choosing instead to smear the tester lipstick on a tissue or some other disposable item. However, the appearance of a particular type and color of a lipstick on such a tissue or other disposable item may not properly reveal how the particular brand and color would appear on the lips of a testing consumer.
Wholly apart from the health hazard presented by such public use of "testers" are other problems inherent in their use. For one thing, providing "testers" entails considerable expense to the manufacturer since each "tester" may be a full size lipstick. Also, the "tester" may be quickly used up since most women tend to wipe off its surface before applying it to their own lips, and careless handling or other mishandling may result in breakage of the lipstick. Additionally, at a busy retail counter, some patrons may simply pick-up and walk away with the "tester". The use of testers, therefore, has heretofore represented a substantial financial expense to the manufacturerer of the lipstick incorporated in the testers.
In addition, lipstick samplers--particularly after they have been used a number of times--can become quite messy and unattractive to potential customers for lipsticks corresponding to the testers.
While some consideration has been given to peelable packages for cosmetics, none of those, such as disclosed U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,606,565 or 2,557,141, has been devised for suitability as a lipstick sampler.
Also, make-up applicators in the form of matchbooks have been the subject of U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,303,986 and 4,471,874, but such applicators present considerable problems when sought to be used as lipstick applicators, since the tips may quickly become dried and harden and, as such, unusuable.
In summary, then lipstick sampling, as heretofore accomplished, has presented serious health risks and inconvenience to customers using them, and has proved expensive to the product manufacturers.
Other problems have been inherent in providing test samples of other cosmetics, paints and other products which cannot long be exposed to the atmosphere and are in a plastic or smearable state.